Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland is Monday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meanwhile, Nick Castellanos of the Reds rises to first place among National League batters in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning NL Batter of the Day honors Monday.
Player of the Day—Freeland struck out seven over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Pirates.
Freeland earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 238th in season player rankings, 71st among NL pitchers.
American League Player of the Day—Angels pitcher Jose Suarez struck out five over 5 1/3 innings of middle relief, allowing one run, two hits and one walk, in the 5-3 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—Nick Castellanos of the Reds hit a grand slam and doubled in the 12-4 win over the Phillies. Castellanos went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in seven runs.
Castellanos earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 26th among all players and rising to first among NL batters, passing previous leader Adam Duvall of the Marlins (6.0). Castellanos also now has the most Box-Toppers points among all batters in 2021, passing Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox (6.5).
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Ramirez of the Indians hit a three-run homer, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in five runs, in the 13-5 win over the Tigers.
Ramirez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 6.0 for the season, rising to third among AL batters behind Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox (6.5) and J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (6.2).
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Monday, June 28.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 14.7 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 12.4 |
| 5 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 7 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
| 8 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.7 |
| 9 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 |
| 10 | Peralta, Freddy 3965 | pi sp | mil nl | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Scoring—Freeland earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Suarez earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Castellanos and Ramirez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG).| 6/28 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +8.0 | COL 2, PIT 0 | Kyle Freeland, (W 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| BAT | +7.0 | CIN 12, PHI 4 | Nick Castellanos, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| AL | +5.1 | LAA 5, NYY 3 | Jose Suarez, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| BAT | +5.0 | CLE 13, DET 5 | Jose Ramírez, DH | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | MIL 14, CHC 4 | Keston Hiura, 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | BAL 9, HOU 7 | Ryan Mountcastle, 1B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +4.0 | WSH 8, NYM 4 | Ryan Zimmerman, 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | BOS 6, KC 5 | Hunter Renfroe, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.0 | STL 7, ARI 1 | Paul DeJong, SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | LAD 3, SF 2 | Mookie Betts, RF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castellanos, Nicholas 3349 | rf | cin nl | 7.0 | 8.0 | 29.5 | 37.7 | +6.0 |
| Ramirez, Jose 3436 | 3b | cle al | 6.0 | 9.5 | 28.5 | 32.0 | +2.5 |
| Renfroe, Hunter 3749 | rf | bos al | 4.0 | 5.7 | 20.9 | 20.9 | +2.3 |
| Zimmerman, Ryan 2180 | 1b | dc nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 16.4 | 71.2 | +4.0 |
| Suarez, Jose 4425 | pi mr | ana al | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| DeJong, Paul 3827 | ss | stl nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 18.0 | 18.0 | +2.5 |
| Betts, Mookie 3404 | cf rf | lad nl | 2.0 | 4.5 | 36.3 | 41.3 | ‑0.5 |
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 22.4 | 22.4 | +1.0 |
| Mountcastle, Ryan 4325 | 1b lf | bal al | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ‑0.5 |
| Hiura, Keston 4189 | 1b 2b | mil nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 5.2 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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